CD: Anwâr, on the Footsteps of Abdol Ghader Marâghî
A musical journey on the footsteps of ‘Abd ul-Qâdir ‘ibn Ghaybi Marâghî (1360? – 1435): he was a musician, a composer and a musicologist who lived along the net of trade routes called ‘Silk Road’. Born in Maragheh, nowadays Azarbayjan-e-Sharqi, Iran, he worked at the courts of Tabrîz, Samarqand, Baghdad and Herât, nowadays Afghanistan, where he left this world. His talents were highly esteemed by emperor Timûr, also known as Tamerlane (1335-1405).
Marâghî wrote his treatises in Persian and his heritage spanned over a vast area thanks to his sons and disciples. Particularly, his compositions were preserved and held in high esteem in the Ottoman world: in fact, by 1422 his Maqâsid al-Alhân was taken as a gift to the Ottoman court of Sultan Murad II in Bursa by his youngest son, Abdülaziz, with a caravan from Herat: Ottomans considered that as the symbolical act that gave life to their classical music tradition.
Ottoman art music from its very beginning has always been deeply linked to Sufism (tasawwuf) and its peculiar spiritual practice called samâ‘ (‘audition, listening, spiritual concert’). For some Sufi brotherhoods (tariqas), the samâ‘ became a central practice on their spiritual path: one of the best known is the one of the brotherhood mevlevîye, known in the West as ‘Whirling Dervishes’, that flourished on the teachings of Persian language Sufi poet Mevlâna Jalâl-ud-Dîn Rûmî (Balkh, 1207 – Konya, 1273). The centres of the mevlevî Dervishes (mevlevîhânes) are considered by scholars as ‘the Conservatories of the Ottoman empire’, that formed the majority of the Ottoman classical composers and musicians active between the Court and the Sufi centres. (Source: Felmay Records)
The members of Ensemble Maraghi are: Giovanni De Zorzi (Director, Nay); Sepideh Raissadat (Voice, Setar); Giovanni Tufano (Oud); Francesco Clera (Tombak, Bendir).
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>>Related to this post:
Maraghi Ensemble at International Mugham Festival
This post is also available in: Persian